Following the devastating Australian bushfires, This Morning presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield announced they’ve adopted two koalas.
Alongside photographs of their newly adopted animals, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield shared with viewers the upsetting stories of the koalas.
Holly’s koala is named Blondie, otherwise known as Brandy Hill Denise, and she was sadly attacked by a dog and ended up having one of her arms amputated.
Phillip’s koala Glen William Clarence is blind in both eyes having chronically suffered from Chlamydia in his eyes for years. In Northern Australia, more than 20 per cent of koalas have the infection, but many more can harbour it.
Blondie and Glen were discovered by This Morning’s vet Scott Miller, and they were introduced in a social media post as well as being proudly displayed live on air in photographs.
The magazine show’s Instagram caption read, ‘Thank you to @drscottym for helping the beautiful koalas affected by Australia's bushfires. ⠀
Meet Paul, Maisie, Thomas and Shelby... ⠀⠀ and introducing Blondie and Clarence, @schofe and @hollywilloughby’s adopted koalas from @portstephenskoalas. 🐨’
Fans were quick to praise Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield for adopting the koalas, taking to the comment section to share their support for the presenters and for those working to help the animals.
One wrote, ‘Aww so sad, thank you so much the poor wee koalas 🐨 my heart ❤️’
Another added, ‘Thank you to all those helping koalas and other wildlife caught up in the bushfires.’
And a third said, ‘That’s great from This Morning, what a lovely thought. Thank you for helping these poor animals’
These koalas cost $50 Australian dollars to adopt, and are cared for by charity Port Stephens Koalas, New South Wales. Explaining their donation, Phillip said, “Whilst they weren't directly injured by the fires, all the money from adoption goes to help the new koalas who are struggling to survive."
This Morning’s Twitter account shared a video to raise further awareness, with Scott visiting a koala hospital in Australia and speaking with a woman named Barb, who helps to care for the animals.
Speaking about the international support, Barb said, “It’s been overwhelming. We’ve just been flooded with medical supplies, food, money of course, people have been donating money.”
She added, “We’ve got the adoption program, people have been adopting our koalas, that helps us to keep the hospital going.”
